1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a performance test system for an inflator that generates gas for deployment of an airbag for an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method is known from Japanese Patent Publication No. 2613752 in which, taking into consideration the fact that a nitrate ester based explosive is degraded and decomposes to generate nitrogen oxides, the degree of degradation is determined by measuring the rate of generation of nitrogen oxides from a nitrate ester based explosive by means of a gas sensor device employing, as a sensing film, a phthalocyanine whose electrical resistance changes as a result of adsorption of the nitrogen oxides.
Furthermore, a system is known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 7-83800 in which, in order to carry out an airbag deployment test without using an inflator that generates a gas by combustion of a propellant, the airbag is deployed by supplying a gas stored under pressure in a pressurized cylinder.
When testing the performance of a newly developed inflator or when testing the degree of degradation of a propellant of an inflator after time has elapsed since production the propellant, it is necessary to know how the energy of gas generated by the inflator changes over the time following ignition. However, since the inflator generates gas by combustion of the propellant in a very short period of time, such as about 100 msec, there is no conventional test system that can accurately follow the way in which the energy of the gas generated by the inflator changes in such a short period of time. Furthermore, even when the same inflator is tested, there is a concern that the test results might vary according to temperature conditions of a laboratory and the gas generated by the inflator. Thus, there has been a demand for development of a test system that can provide test results having high reproducibility regardless of the temperature conditions.